Has news about a star's personal life ever made you like them more?

Up until yesterday, I probably would’ve answered that question with a big old ‘no,’ but yesterday, during my regular Sunday-afternoon veg-out watching horse racing on TVG, host Simon Bray cut to an interview with none other than Teri Hatcher. Apparently, every Mother’s Day, the Desperate Housewives star takes her mom and her daughter to Hollywood Park for some live racing action; Bray noted that last year, Hatcher correctly predicted (on air) that 17-1 shot Ashley’s Kitty would win the featured Railbird Stakes. This year, however, Hatcher wasn’t feeling as decisive, telling Bray that since she’d already gambled away the money she won on the third-race trifecta, she’d decided to place a win bet on every horse in the 2008 Railbird field. Lucky for her, the $31.40 payout on longshot Million Dollar Run turned out to be greater than the $16 it would’ve cost to play all eight fillies in the field, once again making Hatcher a winner, not only at the windows, but also in my fickle, horse-addicted heart.

How about you PopWatchers? Have you ever discovered something about an entertainer’s private life that turned you into an instantaneous fan?